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Battles - The Landings at Suvla Bay, 1915

With three fresh divisions
of reinforcements promised to arrive in August 1915 by British war minister
Lord Kitchener
in London (subsequently increased to five), so Mediterranean Commander-in-Chief
Sir Ian Hamilton
began planning a major Allied offensive on the
Gallipoli peninsular
to coincide with their arrival.

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At this time the combined
British (including Australian and New Zealand Corps - the Anzacs) and French
force had
established two beachheads on the peninsular: the first on the southern
tip at Cape Helles, and the second further north at Ari Burnu (shortly
afterwards renamed Anzac Cove).

Failed Actions at Helles

However repeated attempts
to strike out north of Helles, most notably at the Battles of Krithia in
April,
May and
June 1915, had all
ended in dismal failure at heavy cost in casualties. No similar
attempt to break out of the confined beachhead at Anzac had been considered
however for want of reinforcements: a mere 20,000 Australians and New
Zealanders were sited at Anzac Cove.

The sole major action at
Anzac to date was the Allied defence against a heavy - albeit chiefly
suicidal - Turkish
attack launched on 19 May. Meanwhile Turkish reinforcements
continued to arrive on the peninsular where attached German commander
Liman von Sanders
had 14 divisions at his disposal.

Plans for a New Offensive

In
considering his options Hamilton opted to use his pending reinforcements to
support an Allied breakout from Anzac Cove.

However the cramped beachhead itself at Anzac
could not support the additional numbers of reinforcements promised by
Kitchener. Thus a fresh landing site was selected further north on the
Aegean coastline at Suvla Bay, with the aim of securing the Anafarta Hills.

Suvla Bay was large and
ideal for the landing of a sizeable number of additional troops.
Directly in front of the bay was the shallow Salt Lake, dry in August (but
ill-suited for an infantry advance), and beyond that the flat Suvla plain
that would serve for subsequent troop deployment.

Along with the landings at
Suvla Hamilton set in train two additional attacks. He instructed the
Allied force at Helles, now temporarily under the command of General Street
in place of
Aylmer Hunter-Weston, to strike out with a holding attack.
Meanwhile the Anzacs under
William Birdwood
were to break out north from Anzac Cove to seize Sari Bair Ridge, aided by
25,000 fresh reinforcements smuggled into the area.

In
planning both additional attacks Hamilton was concerned to tie up as many
Turkish troops as possible to guarantee the success of the fresh landings at
Suvla Bay.

Even so, success against
Sari Bair - in conjunction with seizure of the Anafarta Hills - was crucial
if the Allies were to gain complete control of the central heights of the
peninsular.

From there the southern
peninsular could be cut off and command of the Dardanelles Straits ensured,
the Allies principal aim.

News from Berlin

On 22 July Liman received
news via telegram from Berlin warning that an Allied offensive was to be
expected on the peninsular in early August. In response Liman divided
his 14 divisions to meet what he regarded as the most likely attack points:
five were deployed at Helles, three at Anzac, three in the Bulair area and
three more at Kum Kale on the Asiatic coast (where Britain's French allies
had proposed a landing).

Liman did not however
contemplate sending reinforcements to guard against an attack launched from
Suvla Bay, where the sector remained protected by a mere three battalions
comprised of around 1,500 men, the Anafarta Detachment.

Appointment of an
Inexperienced British Commander

In charge of the landings
was Sir
Frederick Stopford, a somewhat elderly general close to retirement age
whose earlier wartime service had consisted of a ceremonial posting as
Lieutenant of the Tower of London. He possessed no battle experience
of any description, a fact which proved crucial during the operation.

Nevertheless
he was to guide 10th, 11th and 53rd Divisions - comprising IX Corps - during
the landings.

Stopford, who was given his orders on the same
day Liman received due warning from Berlin, was instructed that a key
priority was the linking of Allied forces south once Tekke Tepe had been
captured, with Birdwood's Anzac forces striking north from Anzac Cove to
Sari Bair. Further, Stopford was to assist Birdwood in the capture of
Sari Bair if it became necessary.

Remarkably neither Birdwood
nor Helles commander Street were fully apprised of the particulars of their
role in supporting the fresh landings. This merely continued am
ongoing pattern of inferior communication emanating from Hamilton's GHQ.
In this instance it resulted in General Street choosing to interpret his
orders as enabling him to attempt a full-scale break-through attack from
Helles as opposed to Hamilton's desired holding tactics.

Far more critical however
was Stopford's command conduct in the aftermath of the landings.
Rather than immediately strike out beyond Salt Lake as directed he chose
merely to consolidate his position at Suvla Bay, in spite of the absence of
Turkish opposition to hinder forward progress.

Action at Helles and
Anzac Cove

In
the event the offensive was begun on 6 August 1915 with General Street's
attack at Helles. His decision to opt for a large-scale breakthrough
attempt was immediately thrown back, and petered out entirely on 10 August,
freeing up Turkish forces for more critical activity further north.

Meanwhile at Anzac Cove the
attempt to capture Sari Bair on 6 August similarly broke down while close to
success at heavy cost in casualties in the face of confusion, ongoing delay
and simple troop exhaustion.

The Landings

The landings were begun at
10pm on the evening of 6 August with 20,000 troops set down at Suvla Bay
('A', 'B' and 'C' Beaches) with virtually no Turkish opposition other than
from sniper fire. The remainder of the British troops were
successfully landed the following morning, albeit at disparate sites along
the bay owing to reconnaissance failures.

With his troops landed
Stopford opted to wait until evening before pressing forward with attacks
upon the hills immediately around the bay (including Hill 10), in the course
of which some 1,700 casualties were incurred. Stopford's staff
officers argued that attacking the Tekke Tepe ridge before consolidating
their force (including all-important artillery) would leave them open to
violent attack by defending Turk forces. They remained unaware of the
actual weakness of Turkish military preparedness in the sector.

Turkish Reinforcements

Meanwhile
Liman, having now received news of the actual landing site, despatched five
divisions to Suvla in what he regarded as an unlikely attempt to save his
Anafarta Detachment. In due course Colonel
Mustafa Kemal
was appointed by Liman to command of the sector (replacing the
under-performing Feizi Bey).

Fortunately for Liman and
the Turkish army - and most unfortunately for the Allied force - Stopford,
having secured the local hills, remained content that he had achieved his
set aims (meanwhile directing activity from an off-shore battleship).
Hamilton sent a series of unclear orders requiring Stopford to advance but
it wasn't until Hamilton's personal arrival on the afternoon of 8 August
that the position was made clear to Stopford. Meanwhile the
freshly-arrived (and inexperienced) British troops were rested on the beach.

Hamilton promptly issued
orders that the Tekke Tepe ridge to the east be rapidly secured.
However by the morning of 9 August - by which time the British attack was
only just gathering pace - Kemal and his Turkish force had secured the
heights of the ridge and of the Anafarta Spur to the south.

Hamilton nevertheless
continued to order fresh British attacks against the ridge over the course
of the following three days, all of which ended in failure: while Kemal
poured in reinforcements to surround the Allied beachhead at Suvla in the
same manner as at Cape Helles and Anzac Cove earlier in the year.

Heavy Casualties - and
Trench Warfare

Losses were predictably
heavy. The Allies suffered approximately 18,000 casualties at Suvla
Bay and at Anzac Cove, plus a further 3,500 at Helles. Liman's forces suffered 18,000 casualties at
Anzac Cove and anything from 9,000-20,000 at Suvla Bay.

Once
again a state of trench warfare set in from Suvla. Stopford was sent
home to London in disgrace in mid-August and
Henry de Beauvoir
de Lisle appointed in his
stead.

Somewhat belatedly Western
Front commanders were drafted in to provide a level of experience at
divisional level. However
Frederick Maude,
Julian Byng and
General Fanshawe's arrival was too late to salvage the Allied position at
Suvla.

Hamilton's next objective
was to be the linking up of Allied forces at Suvla Bay with those sited at
Anzac Cove, a distance of some 5km, and resulted in the Battles of
Scimitar
Hill and Hill 60.

To view maps detailing the
progress of the Gallipoli campaign click
here; and
here; and
here; and
here.